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Cuts may weaken music studies Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell A keyboard is reflected in the glasses of Jackson Elementary School first-grader Brandon Davis during music class Monday at the school. The Medford School District is proposing to reduce music offerings as part of $2.4 million in budget cuts. The district would like to shift four music teachers to regular classes, so class sizes won't grow too much By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Elementary school class sizes could increase and music instruction decrease next year as the Medford School District struggles to lop at least $2.4 million from its budget. District officials have proposed to reassign four music teachers to regular classrooms to help minimize the increase in class sizes. Despite that, the district expects elementary classroom numbers to grow by at least 10 percent - three to five students per class - because of the anticipated loss of 35 to 40 positions through attrition. Currently, each of the district's 14 elementary schools has a regular music program. The teacher shift will be a blow to those programs, but Superintendent Steve Wisely vows to keep music as a part of the curriculum. "We will never eliminate music," said Wisely. "Every youngster in K-12 will have music. The question is how much." The district is facing budget cuts because of a revenue shortfall approaching $1 billion at the state level. Forty percent of the state's funding goes to education. Wisely said reductions for the Medford district could become far worse if voters reject a legislative referendum to shift $220 million from the Education Endowment Fund into the general fund for schools. Defeat of the measure, combined with other possible cuts, could strip schools throughout the state of almost $500 a student. In a worst-case scenario, Medford's budget problem could triple to more than $7 million, a situation that would trigger layoffs and even higher class sizes. "My concern is that it may go even higher," said Wisely. "However, if we stay at this $2.4 million it will be bad enough." Every grade level at the elementary level could see increases in class size under current projections. In kindergarten and first grade, the average would increase from the current 20 students per class to 23 to 25. Grades 2 to 3, now with an average of 25 students, would increase to 28 to 30. Grades 4 through 6, averaging 30 now, would go up to 33 to 35 students. Wisely said shifting the four music teachers would allow the district to keep the class size increases at the lower end of the projected levels. Until the end of May the district will be delving into these and potentially other ways of making cutbacks. "There are no final decisions," he said. "There are a variety of options floating around." While the district has decided to review any proposals to replace positions left vacant, Wisely said schools will hire nurses to replace two who are retiring this year. Wisely anticipates class sizes will remain about the same at the middle schools and high schools, though the district is in the process of deciding what changes to make in programs to accommodate the loss of about 20 positions. Elementary principals are bracing for the proposed cuts. Jackson Elementary Principal Tom Ettel said, "It will be a real loss not to have as much music. We lost it in Eugene 10 years ago and it has never been the same." Although the average class size for sixth grade might be 33 to 35, Ettel said he anticipates that some classes could be as large as 38 next year. "The tough thing here is that we have a high mobility rate (of students), so one week we could have 32 in a class and 38 the next week." To help teachers with the increased workload, the school plans to assist teachers with management skills and to offer more aides, depending on the number of students in a class. Ettel worries the problems could become far worse, depending on budget decisions made by the Legislature and governor. "We really won't know what it's going to look like until June," he said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.